MovieChat Forums > Howzat! Kerry Packer's War (2012) Discussion > Did the Sight Screen Really Fall Down?

Did the Sight Screen Really Fall Down?

posted 12 years ago by Speranza9
4 replies | jump to latest

I was 9 years old when WSC began. I was already a cricket nut, particularly following the Cententary Test and all the nostalgia which went along with it. My first memory of cricket was Lillee and Thommo terrorising the Poms in 1974. I was only 6 years old!

I also remember some of the controversy in 1977 leading up to WSC, although I'm sure I didn't understand all of it.

I have a clear memory that I had to go to school on the day of the first Supertest at VFL Park. My mother cautioned my against wagging school in order to stay home and watch the cricket. The thing is, the idea had not crossed my young mind! All my mother achieved was to make me wish I hadn't gone to school that day.

Anyway, since I was at school and not at home in front of the TV cheering on my heroes, I wasn't there to see the first ball. I don't remember anything being said about the sight screen falling down.

Is that a true story?

Thanks!

[–] CQTiger 12 years ago

I doubt it

[–] peteroshea90 12 years ago

@Speranza9 This show wasn't intended to be an accurate description and some events have been changed/altered/added for dramatic effect. It states such before the show begins.

[–] Speranza9 11 years ago

Just coming back to this.

Thanks for your observation Peteroshea90.

I recognise not all the events in the show are true to life. Doesn't mean I can't ask whether one particular event - the sight screen falling down - was accurate or one of the parts which was made up.

[–] woolwicharsenallondon 11 years ago

This actually happened, according to Paul Barry's book The Rise and Rise of Kerry Packer. The chapter on WSC in Barry's book suggests the sightscreen falling down occurred during the middle of an innings, not at the start as the end of the episode implies. From what I remember this happened in a different match than the one the series portrays, which may be because the scriptwriters compressed things a little.